monsnoleedra wrote:I'd like to see other's speak about how they interact with her. It always intrigues me. In my many years though it seems I've only encountered 1 or 2 people that utilize her Celestial or Watery aspects most tend to stay within her chthonic / witchy functions. I suppose you could even narrow that down to the idea of the "Crone" for the majority of them it seems. Which is a stark contrast to how I usually find her in dreams and visions, never appearing as a crone.
As would I, especially given the rather one-sided nature of discussions around Her and Her influences, of late. We seem to either be hearing about a certain course that involves Her, but that's about the end of it - for those whom She's impacted, it seems appropriate to discuss more fully our own experiences to see where things line up.
The fact that you work with Her in a Crone-like water-oriented fashion is entirely different from my light & heat-oriented process, but neither of these seems or feels wrong. Instead, they're both perfectly applicable, and suggests to me that She may also be accessed through the Air through howls and utterances, and through the Earth through the digging of cairns and the providing of offerings.
Now, I have done -some- work with Her in the Earth-focused way, and it involved my digging of a small pit for her, which I lined with stones. Into this pit went some beer, and it was subsequently filled in. What I'd asked for was fulfilled, and then I hadn't really thought much of it from that point forward.
It seems that I may need to address and use this shift in technology to learn more fully of Her ways, given the myriad appearances She chooses to take. Case in point, in relation to you interacting with Her as a Crone, I don't tend to get that particular attitude or manifestation...instead, I get Her as a maturing woman who is both beautiful and fiercely strong. My interactions with Her are never sexual in nature, despite an obvious awareness of Her curves in what experiences I've had of hers.
Instead, it reminds me of intellectual and spiritual "Alchemy", wherein and through which my mindset and views are altered so that I grasp a bigger picture than I did before. She tends to like taking me through different visions and conceptual abstractions as a way of making me see this wider view, which then, in turn, allows my sorceries to be more potent, more effective, and of greater "weight" than they'd otherwise be.
The knowledge, however, is a gift of a kind, as after these experiences, its not like She takes that awareness away. Instead, its more like She opens the doors to my experiencing something greater and just holds it open until I can grasp whatever the concept is more fully and thus keep the door open myself. Its a very tutelary relationship, but those sessions aren't a hugely regular occurence.
I agree about being both inspired and excited to use her suggestions. Yet I also find I'm sort of eager in an anticipating way to see what will come next. In some ways it's like being a child around Christmas, you know there is something special under the tree but can't wait to see what it is. It's never what you expected. Its not a good or bad thing and you always learn from it in some way but also have fun though it could also burn your fingers if not careful.
I love how you've described this here, as that's very much the sensation I experience too. She's selective with what all gets brought to the table as an explanation, and I generally get this sense of immense amusement and interest when I try to apply Her teachings elsewhere. As diminutive as this might initially sound, there's this impression of a mother watching Her child try to walk, color, draw, or do anything else along those lines after beind hand-held through the process for the first time.
That excitement feels like it goes both ways, though there is definitely a darker current to the relationship as well, at times. If I've failed or strayed from whatever She's said, offered, or explained, then there's typically an attitude adjustment that will come through adverse circumstances.
It never really seems like She sends those troubles, so much as She doesn't hold them back. Its nearly always eye-opening, and its similarly constructive. Its just a lot less enjoyable than the more directly tutelary way of doing things.
I agree about the energy to get things done. Ironically its not just the idea of "Magical" that she applies to us in that one. The same applies to the point where she can be so intent inside us and pushing us that we cook down. But the thing is in my experience she doesn't specifically release her hold over our bodies though our minds might be allowed to shut down somewhat.
Years ago I had to drive to a new assignment so had been driving for hours on end. Somewhere in there I zoned out and the last thing I recall is being behind a tractor trailer in the darkness of a Georgia night headed to Tennessee. The next thing I recall is waking up to the lights of Millington Tennessee. What made it so bad was nearly a month later when I was leaving I would take the same route out and would drive nearly 80 miles before I would recognize anything. So I know I had to drive nearly 80 miles completely "Blank". That's 80 or more miles on a road averaging 50 - 75 miles per hour as the average speed limit. Parts double lane, parts an old rural single lane road that was windy and twisty.
I've had similar experiences with Her and my Patron as well. I'll have traveled a road or done a task or otherwise handled some kind of mundane activity several times prior without any real awareness of how I'd done so, even though it was an activity performed over and over again. This, to me, speaks to the level of influence that can be had, as well as to the immense amount of trust that we end up placing in beings like Her.
In this case, "Jesus take the wheel!" is fairly literal.
I had a friend that was connected to Kali as his Goddess but went into a period where he wasn't hearing her. Was talking to him and he was telling me all this when I got the sense of Hekate being very near and about when was filled with the idea that she was going to let Kali "use" me as a Hollow Bone for a bit. It was a bit interesting and I admit unnerving to be sitting in a place where these two beings one bright and glowing and the other bluish, sitting in a dark recess and sort of inky blackness before you. That was an interesting yet strange time. Got contacted by Kali a few times for that person.
So yeah, Hekate can take you to some interesting places when she desires to do so. That or open gateways to other places.
Seconded, here, and with the same Goddess. Kali has been one of those longterm involvements for me, having communicated with Her on and off for roughly two and a half decades now. When I first started working with Hekate, I was a bit worried that Kali and She would have a kerfluffle over the intensely close nature of my work with Them...nope, no f**** given. Not a one.
Instead, I started getting tips from both of Them on how best to contact and work with the other in a harmonious fashion, and They clearly get on well enough for it to not be an issue. They're also clearly not the same being, but instead seem to operate on a similar level that, at times, appears to exist outside of the usual norm that we would access.
There's a certain air of timelessness that I pick up on in relation to each of Them, and each feels quite different from Angels and other deities.
It is hard to put into words and visualize how Hermes and Hekate work with the dead. It might sounds crazy but in some ways I sort of see it as Hermes deals with the willing dead while Hekate deals with the restless dead who are unwilling. But the aspect I haven't quite resolved though is death meals are left out for Hekate but I don't recall them being left out for Hermes. Might be mistaken I admit regarding Hermes but all I recall are for Hekate. So that would, to me anyway, suggest that Hekate deals with though's that are a threat to the living.
Nah, this doesn't sound crazy at all. Hermes is very much a fun-loving humanitarian in His way, and martial concerns aren't His concerns. He'll play the messenger about wars and the like, but doesn't tend to engage in them directly.
Hekate, however, will dominate, bind, and forcibly clear from the road the dead and forgotten that doesn't want to be dead OR forgotten. Her ways are more martial, more controlling, and considerably less friendly with these beings, in my experience, and I've found that this particularly forceful manifestation of Her does enjoy offerings of meat, eggs, incense, blood, and ash.
Hermes, not so much. Maybe a beer and some poetry, or a slice of pizza. He's less...demanding in this role, but does so with a considerably more carefree-feeling attitude to him. It seems we align on this.
That dogs name was Blackie. We had taken him to the vet as he had taken ill. We had x-rays and everything else done we could think of. Nothing was showing up but he was getting worse refusing to eat. Once he passed they discovered he had eaten part of a towel and it had ruptured his intestine and he got septic inside. No x-ray or anything would have shown it up. It was a 1 in a million type thing and nothing we did could have saved him. The piece of towel actually laid in align with his intestine track so didn't show up but cut through and caused it to leak. They said he didn't feel pain he just got weaker and weaker and sicker and sicker before he died. Supposed to make you feel better but it didn't really help because we put the towel in his kennel to give him something soft to sleep on vice the cold plastic. Just one small strip of cloth. Our friends and other vets told us it was just one of those things. He had eaten and passed it before, we found some in his stool about that time.
I can understand the seizures as well. Blackie was part of a large litter and one of the pups had jumping seizures. Poor little thing had so many of them that we had to have him put down due to the fact they were killing it. It was suffering rolling seizures that were wracking it's little body. 1 or 2 we could have dealt with but by the time we got him to the vet he had already had close to 15.
Sorry to hear about the PTSD and about Little Hekate.
Thank you. I'm sorry to read about Blackie, too, as that's a heavy thing to experience. Especially to pass from pica (the desire/compulsion to treat non-food objects as food). I'm glad, however, that he didn't experience any kind of pain at the end of his life, as it seems that was something of a mercy.
Curious, however, that seizures were found in others of his litter, too. It seems that perhaps there's an overlap to be had here, as I've seen that shaking fits have sometimes come as a result of Hekate's presence. I've never had anything of that severity, but its not uncommon for me to experience a "jolt" through my spine as a result of Hekate showing up and manifesting strongly in and around me.
15 seizures, however small, does a number on someone's body, and its horrifying to watch. One or two small ones isn't bad, but more than a dozen is a terrible time all around.
Ah, shapeshifting or shiftshaping. Now that falls under the shamanic side of my practice. One is to shift the mind the other to shift the body. Sometimes the two actually align sometimes they do not.
That's a really good way to put it, and it largely agrees with my own experiences. Hekate seems to intensely value internal shifts, too, as there's a magic to be had in those changes.
Have you ever smelt her passing? Sometimes it's after the dogs have gone by and the wind carries a subtle scent of what to me smells like cinnamon. Sort of spicy yet it has a slight burn to the nose. Almost acidic. I've smelt it on a hot med night far out to sea, I've smelt it on a cold winter night in the mountains of West Virginia.
Of this I am not sure. I've smelt cinnamon, camphor, cloves, brown sugar, sandalwood, saffron, and hawthorne at her passing, but I don't know that its ever been a specific consistent scent. I'll have to pay attention to it, but there's generally a "warm spice" flavor to the smell...its never been unpleasant to me, but its always been pretty noticeable.
As a potential relation, She really seems to like curries as an offering.